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Home My WebLink About2015-07-28 10:15AM PUBLIC HEARINGBRAZOS COUNTY BRYAN,TEXAS PUBLIC HEARING BRAZOS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Tuesday July 28, 2015 1015 JUL —b P 2 29 BRAZOS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT WILL CONDUCT A PUBLIC HEARING ON TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 AT 10:15 A M IN THE COMMISSIONERS COURTROOM OF THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 200 SOUTH TEXAS AVENUE, SUITE 1069 BRYAN,TEXAS COMMISSIONERS COURT WILL CONSIDER PLAN FORTHECOUNTY CLERK ARCHIVAL FUND AND HEAR COMMENTSON THE PROPOSED PLAN ALL INTERESTED PERSONSARE INVITED TOATTEND SAID HEARING AND PRESENT THEIR CAUSE, I F ANY, FOR OR AGAI NST THE PROPOSED RAN TI_ry 41Y1s The Cammteeterrms Courhoom of the County Mnmuatreoon &dMp 200 South Toms Avenue Suds 108 Bryan TX 77192 r wl oWw aooessdrls HwmbcW par" speoas am avadeeb Any inquest for sw mtuprewa earvsoee must be made wo vrOrkrg days bd= the meong To make WMMernenb phase al (079) 781 -4102 Vol. 3 P9._.7�_ BRAZOS COUNTY BRYAN,T EXAS MINUTES July 28, 2015 BRAZOS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT PUBLIC HEARING 15 Signature Pate.ndf ED Sian In Sheet.ndf 1B File Stamped Aoendandf The Commissioners' Court of Brazos County, Texas held a Public Hearing at the Brazos County Administration Building in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, beginning at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2015 with the following members of the Court present: Duane Peters, County Judge, Absent, Lloyd Wassermann, Commissioner of Precinct 1; Sammy Catalena, Commissioner of Precinct 2; Kenny Mallard, Commissioner of Precinct 3, Presiding; Irma Cauley, Commissioner of Precinct 4; Karen McQueen, County Clerk. Attached is a list of the citizens and officials in attendance. The Court met to hear the plan for the archival fund proposed by the County Clerk. 10 Brazos County Clerk Archival PI w.odf County Clerk, Karen McQueen explained the process of collecting archival fees. The County Clerk's office is currently collecting $7.00 per document. She plans to raise the collection fee to $10.00 per document, the maximum allowed by law because the amount allowed will be going down to $5.00 in the future. Mrs. McQueen explained her plan to the Court and said she estimates collecting $300,000.00 per year. A copy of the archival plan is attached. There were no citizens present to offer commentary. i The foregoing minutes of the Commissioners Court Public Hearing held July p28, 2015, have been examined and are approved in open Court this the —0n day of 2015, in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas. Duane Peters County Judge /1 4,t4 � Lloyd assermann Commissioner, Precinct 1 Sammy Catalen Kenny Mallard Commissioner recinct 2 Commissioner, Precinct 3 Commissioner, Attest: ��Co_ Karen McQueen County Clerk jVol. _ .? Pg. - -7 L COMMISSIONERS COURT MEETING ;2O /.5' (:o %c.` Date and Time Name Organization /Department l \tern M � l_fi Brazos County Clerk Records Management and Archive Plan I Background (Statutory History) The 77d' Texas Legislature passed HB 370 in 2001 to allow border county's to assess a $5 00 Records Management and Preservation Fee for the preservation of older records filed with the County Clerk The 70 Legislature passed SB 1731 amending the original legislation allowing all county s to collect this fee with Commissioner's Court approval The County Clerk is proposing to collect this fee at this time This legislation amends Local Government Code, Section 118 011 (b & f), to enable the Commissioner s Court to adopt a Records Management and Records Archive Fee for the preservation and automation of previously filed and recorded real property and vital statistics records as part of their regularly adopted annual budget The 82" d Legislature passed HB 1513 amending Government Code, 118 011 (b &f) allowing the Commissioner Court to set and collect a Records Management and Records Archival Fee not to exceed $10 00 on non -court related filings Il Bill Summary • Begins on approval of the County of Brazos 2015 -16 Annual Budget The fee must be set and itemized in the county s budget as part of the budget preparation process • Termination The 79" Legislature extended this bill indefinitely The $10 00 fee is assessed on any instrument, document, paper or other record that the County Clerk is authorized to accept for filing or recording (deed or official public records, assumed names, and manage licenses) • The $5 00 fee is assessed on any original civil case filings • The fee may be used only to provide funds for specific records management and preservation, includrng for automation purposes — in accordance with this written plan • Changes to the plan must be approved by Commissioner's Court The plan may be modified as required III Purpose Some of Brazos County official records have been computerized and automated in electronic format since the late 1960s The County Clerk s office is progressive in the preservation of current records, utilizing the original Records Management and Archival Vol l. _ Pg._ 7j Fees from 1991 forward However, this funding has not been sufficient to electronically preserve and restore the older documents that have a priceless historical value In order to preserve and enhance the integrity of the existing system for recording and preserving public documents, the County Clerk seeks to preserve existing original records by restoring or re- creating old volumes, digitizing older microfilm and paper records, re- indexing old handwritten and typed indexed looks and converting all older media into an electronic format and importing thus newly created data into the existing computer system IV The overall goal and vision of the County Clerk's office is to • Modernize and upgrade old record systems in the office • Continue to add records and information to your existing computer system • Eliminate or reduce manual lookups and searches • Expedite record searching by having more records available for electronic retrieval • Create a complete electronic records back -up for disaster recovery • Provide more public information to the citizens of the County via the Intra/Intemet • Continue to elinunate the need for paper records • Preserving original records by reducing daily usage • Reclaiming much needed space in the public records area V Annual Revenue Estimate Official Real Property Records 31,000 /annually Marriage Records 1,500/annually Civil/Cr minal Filings 400/annually Total 32,900 Filings Annually X S 10 00 = S 329,000 00 VI Restoration, Preservation and Automation Projects Real Property Records Projects include computerized re- indexing and converting all real property records to electronic images and importing new records to the existing real property computer system Phase 1 Electronic conversion of 1999 to 1%7 existing microfilm to images, matching to the existing grantor /grantee index and importing to the computer and internet Approx 674,000 Instruments filed 1967 to 1999 Estimated S 370,700 Vol. Phase 2 Back conversion of 1966 to Volume A of Deed Records existing microfilm to electronic images and loading to computer by Book, Volume and Page Approximately 1,167 000 images from 1966 to Volume A Estimated S 167 000 Re- mdexmg real property records from 1966 back to Volume A using the electronic images of the original record books Data entry/conversion of approx 355,000 instruments Estimated $ 608,000 Phase 3 Maps and Plats Conversion/scanning and remdexmg of all maps/plats and importing to existing computer system Approximately 4 000 maps and plats Estimated $ 60,000 Phase 4 Commissioner's Court Records Electronic conversion and remdexmg of all existing Commissioner's Court minutes and importing this data to existing computer system in a searchable format Approximately 190,000 pages and 120,000 index entries Estimated S 128,000 VIII Length of Projects It is estimated that these projects will take approximately 5 to 6 years to complete and implement Some projects may be considered as on -going and paid monthly as revenue is collected Vol. pg� 0 Summary The Legislature has provided a means to raise revenue for the records management and preservation of older county property and vital records This "user" fee is an alternatj,#e to raising taxes or spending general fund monies to accomplish these important projects This plan will be implemented in "phases" as money is accrued and deposited into a special revenue account The completion of the initial phases %dl preserve the original records, provide more space in the public records area, and continue to modernize the Clerk's office through available technology Vol. C 2 . 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